Opiates long term - brain damage or no ?

[john24]

I think I asked this once here already, and almost everyone said 'no'. But then I figured "duh" of course addicts will say anything to keep doing the stuff.

Even my family doc was about to mention this aspect, but I cut him off before I could get his whole explanation. Basically he started like this "we've done studies on this, and basically what their finding from long term users"....then I cut him off and was like "brain damage"....? and he got completely quiet.

i've been a month off of opiates completely....yet I still have a strong urge everyday, even though i'm trying hard to stay creative and doing good stuff on my own. It truly feels like my natural happy endorphins just aren't there anymore. I've tried everything, even exercising daily.

honestly, I don't think anybody could say for sure...because even MRI's probably aren't even that good yet. How do we know definitively we haven't permanently damaged one of the chemical receptors (or outputters) in our brain? we don't.

thoughts ?

 

[cj]

It's called PAWS. Theoretically your endorphin system should eventually balance back out. But the longer you have used the longer that will take

 

[Maya]

^yep agreed with the poster above. What you are experiencing is temporary and you will be back to your normal self again. Like what I always say proper diet exercise and patience will help you recover faster

 

[neversickanymore]

I agree it PAWS.. wouldn't call it damage.. more of a disruption or temporary imbalance.. here are some good links and resources. It can take up to two years, but thats really long and most people see significant if not total imrpovment in six or seven months. It usually gets a sliver better each day, can be hard to tell the improvements on a daily basis but people can usually tell a difrence between weeks and months. You can also promote it, like maya said through diet and exercise.

PAWS LINKS
Why We Don’t Get Better Immediately: Post-acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS)
Post Acute Withdrawal (PAW) Excerpted From “Staying Sober” By: Terence T. Gorski
Post-acute-withdrawal syndrome Wiki

Exercise and Brain Neurotransmission
Neurobiology of Exercise
Exercise 4 Health, Mental Health, and Addiction vs. I worked all that out

Chemicals and supplements to recover from opiate addiction
Diet & Neurogenesis


it is a powerful thing to keep our thoughts possitive and here are some threads many of us use to help us do this.
Managing depressive thinking
Good things about being off drugs/getting sober
Share something POSITIVE from your day!
Today I Am Thankful For... Ver. 3: Earth, Wind and Fire!

Here is the mindfulness thread.

Anhedonia MEGA Thread


Congratulations on kicking!!!! that's no easy feet.. now just work your way through the PAWS and address any addiction you may have.

Addiction Guide

 

[john24]

didn't know about PAWS, and the long recovery time. thanks.

reading links now..